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TRP: Goro and Mishka (Aleks)
Coyote: at 8:33 PM The top deck of the ship. Hansel and Raef are gone for a few hours, out to gather supplies from the occupied city of Skyport while it descends into chaos. Mishka sat on the top deck, trying to focus on the real world. He sat against the railing close to the captain’s wheel. That felt familiar. That felt good. The ocean spray kept hitting him. He didn’t mind, though. Hansel was gone for a bit. Anxiety tore at him from the inside; this was fucking ridiculous, he knew it was. It would be fine. He didn’t have this problem before he was hosted by that.... thing. It was irrational, needing to follow Hansel around, he knew it, but fuck. He hoped none of the Graverunners has noticed but they probably had. Okay. Breathe. He was fine. He was awake. He had his body again. He could move. He could pretend to be the same, normal, effortlessly comfortable Mishka as before. Nothing was going to hurt him. Teleport, invisibility, dagger, dancing rapier, jade necklace. He kept pinching his wrist and digging his fingernails into it. In the dreamscape, he hadn’t been able to feel pain or hurt himself. The pinches hurt, and the nails left little red crescents in his skin. He was awake. This was real. He was fine. Lina: at 8:40 PM Cherry merlot in hand, Goro set out to find Mishka so he could pass off the bottle. He'd planned to head below decks to Hansel's room--oh yes, wasn't that interesting--but didn't need to go that far. When he stepped outside, he spotted Mishka sitting against the railing on the quarterdeck. Goro approached him, half holding out the bottle already when he got close enough to sense something off. Mishka was making an admirable effort to look normal, but he was digging his fingernails into his wrist. There were little red marks all over it. Goro stopped several feet away. He wasn't going to ask. Probably a post-Diva thing. He waved the bottle in the air. "Black cherry merlot?" Coyote: at 8:46 PM Mishka pretended to— carelessly— not notice him until he was close. Mishka had a fair view of the entire deck like this, though. He knew where everyone was on the ship. He let Goro get a few feet away. Eighteen seconds. It was fine. Mishka just wouldn’t turn his back this time. Plus. He liked to be around Goro. Goro was fine. “Where did you get that?” Mishka said, amused. “You wait until Han is gone to bring it out?” Lina: at 8:47 PM "Oh, is Han gone?" Goro casts a glance around the deck. "I hadn't noticed. You want it, or not?" Coyote: at 8:48 PM “Haven’t got anything to trade for it.” What’s it worth to you, Goro has said about the mask. Mishka snorted a little. He would’ve traded something for the mask but he didn’t have anything. Lina: at 8:50 PM "I'm not... god, you dumbass." Goro bends down to set the bottle on the deck and roll it toward him. Predictably, it winds up a little off course. That's fine. Mishka can move two feet to grab it, if he wants. Goro stands back up and turns to walk away. Coyote: at 8:57 PM “Hey, hey, hey. Come back.” God, wasn’t that fuckin’ weird. Hansel— and Goro— were both extremely conscious of Mishka’s weird boundaries. And Mishka, oddly enough, in return, didn’t mind them so much. He was weirdly flattered Goro rolled the wine to him. And when Mishka had first teleported back onto the ship, Goro had gone directly away from him. Oddly flattering, again. Maybe Goro didn’t get it— or maybe he did— but either way, Goro has noticed, sharp-eyed, how Mishka moved away from people, and then Goro had just... respected it. Without question. It was.... It was weird. Mishka snatched up the bottle. For a couple seconds he felt like himself again. “Come drink it with me. I’ve been meaning to ask you about a couple things.”(edited) Lina: at 8:59 PM Goro stopped, turned around, arms crossed. Tipped his head to one side. "I don't drink." Coyote: at 9:04 PM “Ah. Alright.” A bit of disappointment. Mishka thought to cover it with some of his usual humor, but he couldn’t quite manage it today. Instead, he just. Well. Sounded disappointed. And had nothing to hide it with. It was a nice gift. He’d... leave Goro alone, then. He set the bottle down. He’d drink it later, then. Lina: at 9:06 PM Goro kept standing there, waiting. He tapped his foot once or twice. "God, you are off your game tonight," he said. "I've drunk with you three or four times by now. You're the only one. I don't know what it is about you." He jerked his head in the direction of the table and chairs where they'd played cards the night before. "You want to sit somewhere more comfortable?" Coyote: at 9:12 PM “Goro, I know what a rejection sounds like,” Mishka said, bemused. “When a handsome young man offers you a drink and you say you don’t partake, that’s a rejection. It doesn’t matter if the thing about not drinking is true or not. I know what a ‘no’ sounds like.” And yes. He was off his game. He forced himself to stop pinching his wrist— realizing he was still doing it. He got up to sit at the table anyway, though. Watching Goro from the corners of his eyes to see if he came with. Lina: at 9:16 PM "Damn, that must be why all the pretty boys stay away from me. I keep trying to tell them I don't drink. Ah, the sad lot of a cleric." Goro sat in one of the free chairs, used his knife to pop out the cork. Took a swig from the bottle and started to pass it to Mishka--thought about how Mishka seemed a touch more civilized and would probably appreciate glasses--remembered Mishka had also been a pirate, and they probably drank straight from the bottle all the time. He shrugged and held the bottle out after all, willing to go get cups if that was what Mishka demanded. Coyote: at 9:21 PM Mishka took it and drank. It didn’t matter. He tried to think of how to formulate some of the questions in his head. Maybe he ought to wait until they were drunker. The cuff still felt heavy a lot of the time, but it was a lot easier now that he wasn’t dealing with it by himself. Mishka toyed with the edges of it. The problem was, this weird fuckin’ guy had already helped him get Ripley on his side, then saved his life for no particular reason. It felt like a bit much, asking for his help a third time when there was nothing to do or trade. “Hey,” he said. “Diva. When she was inside your head. What did that feel like? I’m wondering if it was the same. Even though our time limits were... different.” Or hey, maybe Goro didn’t want to talk about that. Lina: at 9:24 PM Goro took the bottle back and took several gulps. So many it felt like his throat and gut were on fire. That was kind of appealing. He could see why people did this, come to think of it. He set the bottle down and his head was already swimming. Ripley had called him a lightweight once, and he'd snapped that she'd never even seen him drink. She'd said she could tell by looking. God, that woman. "Felt like shit," he said. Coyote: at 9:28 PM "Mmm. Fair." He thought about saying that thing showed me visions of me killing all of you. I didn't know if any of you were dead or alive. Reality still felt tenuous in a lot of ways. He was still just kind of enjoying it was it lasted, figuring he'd wake up eventually and realize none of it had been real. Goro didn't look like he wanted to talk about it. "Hey," Mishka said. "I want to play a game. Dumb game. I'll answer three questions honestly, you answer three questions honestly. Interested?"(edited) Lina: at 9:30 PM Goro snorted and burst out laughing. He tried to contain himself, and tears leaked out of his eyes. Must've been the fucking wine. "Yeah. Sure." Coyote: at 9:32 PM Mishka dug a list out of his pocket written on a napkin. Scribbled on the napkin were several words crossed out. Parents, mother abandoned him-- bullshit/true?? Wand. Ripley? Nixie. Drinking. Blueprints. Resurrection. "You go first," Mishka said. Lina: at 9:36 PM The swimmy-mind thing was kind of nice, but also kind of awful. This was why he didn't drink. No control over what he might say, wading through his own thoughts was like a mire, and the gods only knew how bad he'd stumble around if he tried to stand up right now. He scanned Mishka up and down, trying to remember what he'd been wanting to know about him. There was a fucking lot, but only stupid superficial things were coming to the front of his mind. He gestured to the cuff Mishka wore around his wrist. "What's that about?" Coyote: at 9:38 PM Oh thank god. Mishka wasn't sure how to bring it up. "Okay, here's the thing," Mishka said. "I'm not going to tell you all of it, because-- I'm sorry, that's just too fucking much for me right now, alright? But--" He pinched bridge of his nose. "Look, I'm sure this is already obvious, but a friend did not, in fact, gift this to me. Someone I do not appreciate did. And I can't fucking get it off, and it's driving me crazy. It's a cursed magic item. Stuck on. Honestly I'm sick of it." Another drink. "I thought about asking you if you had any ideas. Which seemed dumb, because so far I haven't actually done much to help you in this little conspiracy partnership of ours." There. That was the truth. Lina: at 9:39 PM "Let's just chop your arm off." Coyote: at 9:40 PM "Tried it. Watch." He took the knife out of his boot, spun it around, and tried to sink it into his wrist. It didn't cut. "Whole arm up to my torso is like that." Lina: at 9:41 PM Goro leaned in for a closer look. "Fuck." He leans back grinning. "How do I get a whole-body one of those?" Coyote: at 9:43 PM "If it did what this one does, you wouldn't want it," Mishka said. And then realized that was just going to lead to further questions he wasn't going to answer. "There's another half to it somewhere that can get it off, but a dragon has it. Hans thinks we ought to just, you know, kill the dragon. Crazy, right? Love that fucking guy. Crazy, though." Lina: at 9:43 PM "Oh. Yeah. Yeah, let's kill the fucking dragon. Sounds like a job for Joan Ripley's crew." Goro takes another swig of wine. "You know. When she's not possessed." Coyote: at 9:46 PM "Oh yeah." Mishka squints at the napkin list in his hands. He's pretty sure Goro is drunker than he is, which is amazing, because it was just a bottle of wine. That kid had no alcohol tolerance. "Anyway. My question. Fuck, they're too vague. Alright. Nixie. Alright. Goro, are you fucking with my protege?" Lina: at 9:46 PM "Define fucking with?" Coyote: at 9:47 PM "You know." Mishka took the bottle back and firmly set it aside. This was Serious Talk time. More important than the cuff. "She's a very sweet girl-- okay, a bit naïve. A bit. Easily swayed. It would be extremely unkind of you to lead her on just to sleep with her. Very unkind, Goro. And I wouldn't appreciate that." Lina: at 9:51 PM "Oh, no, no. Oh, fuck no. I'd kill any bastard that did that to her. I lo--fuck." His eyes widened and he pressed a hand to his mouth. Leaned over, grabbed the bottle again, squinted at the label, then set it back down. "You know, I like Nixie, she's really sweet, like you said. I'm not leading her on. I've never even... actually, that can be your second question." He cleared his throat. "You need more detail? I'm not fucking with your protege." Coyote: at 9:54 PM Mishka eyed him. Well. Alright. Fair enough. If Goro did something too mean, then Nixie could just, you know, spear him through the deck anyway. Goddamn, that girl. Also, this was suspiciously close to admitting Mishka saw the girl a bit like a younger sister, which he didn't care for admitting. "Good enough," he said. "You know I had this whole speech prepared about threatening you if you hurt her, but honestly she can probably take care of that part herself. Anyway. You're up next." Lina: at 9:56 PM Goro closed his eyes to think. Things he wondered about Mishka. He should probably start a list. Pin it up on his wall. "Why'd you kiss me that one time," he said, then opened his eyes. "Fuck, never mind, that one's stupid. Can I take that back? Restart." Coyote: at 10:03 PM Mishka stared at him, mouth open. He didn't realize Goro was still thinking about that. Mishka had dismissed it. "Uh," he said, then thought it over. How to say this without making it weird. "Well." He reflected on it a bit. He'd been drunk. It'd been two years since he'd had sex with anyone. His head had been fucked up-- still was, sometimes. He'd wanted to see what would happen. He didn't feel attracted to people, usually-- it was extremely rare-- and he'd just kind of done it without over-thinking for once. "I mean, there wasn't one reason," Mishka said. "Sort've a lot of small things." He thought of saying: You look a lot like Aleks. That seemed rude, however, or... dismissive, because even though Goro looked quite a bit like Aleks (it was the dark hair and fair complexion, and something about the eyes) Aleks had been very uncomplicated and sweet and, well, not like Goro. Mishka had just kind of dragged Aleks into things. "I was fucked up," Mishka said. "I'm not usually attracted to people that often. I can count on one hand the number of people I've ever seriously considered sleeping with. I missed my husband. I needed a distraction. I liked you. I don't know."(edited) Lina: at 10:07 PM Goro's expression was blank throughout Mishka's explanation, and for a while afterward. Then finally he tipped his chin down and raised an eyebrow. "Huh." Not the answer he was expecting--which might've been somewhere more along the lines of "I wanted to fuck with you." Interesting. Goro waved a hand at him. "Your turn."(edited) Coyote: at 10:09 PM "You've thrown me off. Give me a minute. Hey, fuck it. I've got one. Stupid, though. Nixie said that wand, the twisted black one, she says that kills you if you use it," Mishka said. "That true?" The fuck. Lina: at 10:10 PM "Sure fucking is." Goro frowned. "Wait, no. It might kill me. Fifty-fifty chance. It's defective." Coyote: at 10:14 PM Huh. Mishka had just kind of wondered if Goro had made that part up to seem more heroic or something. He eyed Goro. He thought about asking: The fuck did you use it on me for? But that would sound ungrateful, and Mishka was in fact pretty grateful for, you know, not being dead. Mishka was useful, had information, had a lot of interesting spells, and bringing him back to life left him pretty fucking indebted to the Graverunners. It'd been a logical more, clearly, and Goro was clearly a very logical and tactical man. "Well, thanks," Mishka said. Then was silent. That seemed insufficient. "If you ever need anything--" Redundant. He was going to help get Ripley back, and then if they put the city back together, Mishka would be extremely useful then. "Well. If you need something." Lina: at 10:18 PM "What, you think you're indebted to me now?" Goro shook his head several times. "I owed it to you, motherfucker. I couldn't have lived with myself if I hadn't done it, so why not take the risk?" Coyote: at 10:22 PM "Owed it to-- oh. Oh. Well yeah, you did subject me to an unending nightmare of sheer psychological torture I thought I'd never escape from." That wasn't helping. "Heck, maybe you still owe me, actually. Maybe I ought to call in favors from you, eh." Goro probably wouldn't appreciate his sense of humor. He should probably stop opening his mouth when he's like this. Lina: at 10:23 PM "That's what the dragon'll be for. I won't ask you for gold after I kill it." He gazed longingly at the wine bottle, still sitting out of reach. Coyote: at 10:24 PM Mishka handed it to him. He understood. It was, again, weirdly touching Goro got drunk around him. Weirdly touching. That was Goro, apparently. "How many questions are we on? I think you've used two." Lina: at 10:25 PM Goro took a sip. For some reason, it had lost some of its appeal. "Two and two. Yeah." He closed his eyes again to think. He felt the deck pitch and roll, like they were in a storm. "You ever planning to stab me in the back? Me or Ripley?" Coyote: at 10:33 PM Maybe these questions had been mistakes. Mishka lapsed into silence. He'd like to say no. The truth was something more like: "I'm not planning on it," Mishka said. "I like you. I like Joan. I wouldn't ever want to." The truth was also: He'd do it if it benefited him enough. It would have to really benefit him, though. He'd do it to get the cuff. If it meant keeping Hansel. He'd do it, then, sell them all out to the dragon. He'd trade the city for it. That was the only circumstance he could think of, though, currently. "If I said never, I'd be lying," Mishka said, looking at him. "But... I wouldn't want to. And no. I'm not planning on it. Not unless I had to. Not unless it was you or me. I'd do everything else, first. All the other plans on the list." Not unless it was the Graverunners or Hansel. He felt completely sober suddenly. "Well. Third question. Last one from me. Is that answer-- good enough? Allies, still? Conspiracy partners?" Lina: at 10:35 PM "That's your last question?" Goro takes another sip. "Come on. Ask something fun. Yes, that answer's good enough. I feel more or less the same. Now go again." Coyote: at 10:37 PM Mishka choked out a laugh. He dug out the napkin again. All the other questions were stupid. Mishka kind of liked wondering things, anyway. "Fuck, I can't think of one. I thought about asking you if that story about your mother was true, but I think it was. I was going to ask you if you were really loyal to Ripley or just using her for something, but I think you are. I was going to ask you why you don't drink, but I don't think it matters. I'm out of questions." Lina: at 10:41 PM "Shit. I guess I'm an open book." Goro could feel his mood starting to dip again. Dramatically. Must be the fucking wine. He fingered the neck of the bottle, staring intently at it. How was it possible to feel worse when his mission of getting Mishka and Ripley back was half done? Coyote: at 10:42 PM "Alright, I've got one, but it depends on you. What do you want me to ask you?" Mishka said, amused. "I mean, there's lots of things I'd like to ask you. I'm just not sure I want the honest answer. I kind of like the bullshit." Lina: at 10:45 PM Goro kept staring at the wine bottle, but a smile inched its way across his mouth. "You didn't ask me why I used the Leech on you. That wand." His eyes dart up to Mishka's. "Maybe, yeah, maybe you don't want to know, though. Maybe the bullshit is better." Coyote: at 10:46 PM Well, now Mishka was tempted. He didn't want to know before, but he kind of wanted to know now. "Alright. I'll bite. Why'd you do it? Seemed like a good tactical choice. Daring, though. Risky." Lina: at 10:54 PM "Tactical choice." He snorted. "Yeah. Sure. Maybe. Nah, I had to do it for Nixie, and uh..." He turned his head and looked out over the dark water. He was quiet for a long time. A very long time. Almost like he'd forgotten he was in the middle of saying something. "I thought, maybe, you were... a friend. Or could be one. Seems stupid in hindsight. You know, since you're such a prick." He slid the bottle and what was left of its contents across the table, and scooted his chair back, but made no move to stand up. Coyote: at 10:55 PM "Hey," Mishka said. "I can be a jackass and also a friend. I like you." It seemed fairly obvious, though, that Goro didn't care for him. That was fine, though. Mishka was used to liking people who didn't much care for him. Disappointing, though. Lina: at 10:57 PM "Good, I like you too. Too fucking much, considering what a prick you are. Fuck. God damn it, can I have another question?" Coyote: at 11:00 PM Mishka smiled stupidly before he caught himself and smoothed it back. He actually felt way better, he realized with a shock. He hadn't thought about the Diva thing for a while, now. Since earlier in the conversation. He'd stopped pinching himself. He felt... better, actually. Not safe. Still on edge. But better. "Sure," Mishka said. "I will graciously grant you another." Lina: at 11:01 PM Goro leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. He nodded a few times. "I've got nothing. Fuck. I just felt like I told the truth too goddamn much and you should make up for it." Coyote: at 11:02 PM Mishka snorted. "You're a fucking lightweight." Lina: at 11:03 PM Goro reached out and smacked the bottle, knocking it over on the table. Then he stood up and started for the captain's quarters. "Good night!" he yelled. Coyote: at 11:06 PM "G'night, Aleks," Mishka said without really thinking about it. And then shut his mouth, almost managing to cut it off, biting his tongue in the process. Lina: at 11:09 PM Goro came to a halt and half turned toward Mishka. He squinted. "What did you just call me?" Coyote: at 11:11 PM "Call you what?" Mishka said. "I said 'good night, I'll see you in the morning.' Fucking lightweight. D'you need me to walk you ten feet to the captain's quarters?" Lina: at 11:16 PM Goro turned the rest of the way toward Mishka. He stared for a long time, scrutinizing him. "Nah," he said finally. "Nah, I'm good. See you in the morning." He walked the rest of the way to Nixie's room, let himself in, and shut the door behind him. END Category:Text Roleplay